I’m not sure if this has been done before but I’m putting together a video for youtuve of the best 10 Formula 1 cars of the last 20 years. To make sure I’ve got it a decent order of car’s I need some more opinions, particulary from more experienced f1 followers (I’ve only watched f1 religioulsy since 2007). Rough Guess so far () is the 2011 Red Bull, 2009 Brawn, 2006 Renault, 2004 Ferrari, 2002 Ferrari, 1998 McLaren, 1996 Williams, 1995 Bennetton, 1993 Williams, 1992 Williams.

I’d like to suggest the 1993 McLaren MP4-8. Now, seeing as Prost walked the WDC that year not many would actually give it a second thought, but bear the following in mind before righting it off:

(a) Senna won 5 races in it, including that epic race at Donington;
(b) It was powered by the feeble Ford HB engine, so the fact that it won anything is down to the quality of the chassis & electronics, and Senna’s driving of course;
(c) Its active suspension system was actually thought to be even more advanced than the Williams FW15C. The Williams was, according to Prost and Hill, quite unstable and would often pitch violently in the middle of corners; and
(d) it is probably the prettiest McLaren ever. :)

Quite a few people have suggested Red Bull’s 2011 car (RB7). However I would argue that the RB6 from last year deserved a place on the list more than its successor.

For the first third (-ish) of the 2010 season, Red Bull blew everyone else totally out of the water. Sure it wasn’t the most reliable car on the grid, and neither did they keep up development towards the end of the season as much as they should have (similar to Brawn in ’09); but in terms of raw speed, I think it trumps the RB7.

The RB7 is clearly a very strong package, but also remember than Ferrari and McLaren have produced particularly weak cars for 2011. Of course that doesn’t detract from Red Bull’s success, however I am merely pointing out that in terms of raw speed and performance, the RB6 was the faster car.

Let’s see… in chronological order:
1987: Williams FW11B. 1-2 in the drivers championship, almost double the points of McLaren in the constructors standings.
1988: McLaren MP4/4. Won every race except Monza, and that was due to a stupid and unfortunate accident.
1991/1992/1993: Williams FW14, FW14B, FW15C. Okay, this is three different cars, but it’s basically the same model. If I have to choose one, it’s the ’92 FW14B: the fastest and most dominant car in the early 90s. Senna won the championship in ’91 due to numerous retirements by Mansell, but in ’92 Williams was unbeatable. in ’93 not so much, as other teams finally caught up with the technical expertise of Williams.
1995: Benetton B195. After San Marino, it looked like Hill would take the title. But Schumacher and Benetton turned it around, and duly took both the titles.
1999: McLaren MP4/14. I always considered this to be the fastest of the late 90’s McLarens. Sure, in 1998 The MP4/13 won the opening race in Melbourne by a lap, but in 1999, it was only by Häkkinen’s misfortunes that others could challenge him.
2002: Ferrari F2002. The car that caused some massive rule changes to be made. That’s what I call dominance.
2004: Ferrari F2004. Best car for most of the season, but slipped away in the end once the titles were wrapped up.
2005: McLaren MP4-20. Based purely on speed, this car usually destroyed the Renaults – before developing some mechanical gremlin (Kimi) or crashing out (JPM).
2009: Brawn BGP 001. The ultimate double diffuser car.
2011: Red Bull RB7. The quickest car for almost the entire season. Not by much, but a small margin is enough.

But the best bunch of cars for me in that time were the cars in the early 90s (The 1993 williams i believe ran close to the lap records of today) or the 2004 spec cars- will we ever see faster cars than them?

December 1st Autosport mag had a feature charting 22 years of Interlagos fastest F1 times – the track hasn’t changed much so it allowed them to make a fair comparison of how cars evolve and gain back time from rule changes.

The lap record of Interlagos Grand prix weekend in each respective year